I work in a small office, and when I was hired the boss asked if I was a smoker. I said no because at the time I had been quit for some time. After my fiance left me, I started smoking again (UGH, I KNOWWWWW). I don’t smoke daily, but I do smoke occaisionally.

One day, at 9pm my boss saw me smoking (I work regular hours, so this was way outside of work hours) and the next day I had the pre-employment question about smoking on my desk with a giant question mark.

So, I have been smoking sometimes, but not around the boss.

If I have had a cigarette before going to work, he will make a big fuss about how I smell. He called me before the holiday party to ask me not to smoke.

I could almost understand this, but the other person in the office has worked there for 20 years and has ALWAYS smoked. Boss says nothing to her.

Anyway, he’s been going through a very stressful time (as have we all) and when he came to the office last week around lunchtime he caught us smoking on our break and completely freaked out- yelled at us and got up in my face asking when I would quit.

Why is this any of his business? As long as it’s not affecting your work performance, and you don’t work in a field like healthcare where smoke can be detrimental to patient health, I don’t see why this is a issue. Especially since your coworker also smokes.

He can not fire you over this I’m pretty sure. Although he can fire you if its being done on the clock. Also I’d suggest not doing so on work breaks as you WILL smell like smoke, something he may not want.

You contact HR because this is harassment. If your place of employment has a no smoking rule for the property, like many hospitals do, then you can’t smoke while at work, but he has absolutely no right to tell you what you can do on your own time. This is discrimination, and should be reported immediately.

Yeah, it’s none of his business. If he’s trying to convince people to quit, yelling at them and throwing dramatic hissy fits about it sure as hell isn’t the way to go, stressful time in his life or not. Not professional AT ALL.

@cmbr: He has, over the two years I have worked here, seemed to think of my colleague as grandfathered in and he also treats me like a juvenile. Unless, of course, he needs me for something he doesn’t understand. He just seems to think that he has the right to advise me on what I eat and how I live. It’s really patronizing and I don’t know how to shift things.

I don’t know what you can do about this, but my FIL worked at a place before where smoking was prohibited on the premises. It was a health insurance company and he worked for them as a computer programmer.

Because you are in a small office, I expect you may not have an HR department. Research your local labour laws and standards and print out the page that says employers cannot discriminate against smokers. Leave it on his desk!